Asia-Pacific News In Brief (January 13, 2014)

SEOUL—Ketchum has named Yonnie Woo as general manager of its recently acquired office in South Korea, formerly Incomm Brodeur. As general manager, Woo will be responsible for agency operations and supporting multinational and domestic clients with a particular focus on brand marketing, technology, digital, and public and government affairs. She joins Ketchum from The Hoffman Agency, where she was general manager of the firm's South Korean operations.

MELBOURNE—Edelman Australia has appointed former premier of Victoria John Brumby (pictured) as the first Australian member of the firm’s global public affairs advisory council. He will provide senior level strategic counsel to the firm as it continues to build its public affairs practice in the region. Brumby served as premier from 2007 until 2010, and earlier spent seven years as state treasurer, six years as leader of the opposition, and seven years as federal member for Bendigo in the Hawke Government. He currently serves as the chairman of the Council of Australian Governments Reform Council.

SINGAPORE—UK-based Aspectus PR has opened an office in Singapore and appointed Martin O'Connor as regional director. O'Connor has held leadership roles in the UK, Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brussels and Atlanta. He was director of corporate communications, BT Asia-Pacific; and chief communications officer at PCCW, the Hong Kong based communications and technology group. He has also worked as a consultant to multinationals including Vodafone, Coca-Cola, Electrolux and Eli Lilly.

HONG KONG—The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society has appointed Strategic Public Relations Group to manage its public relations in Hong Kong for the second year in a row. SPRG has been brought on board again to assist HKIFFS in covering its corporate, trade and consumer communications, as well as managing special events.

SEOUL—Korean public relations and digital media specialist Medicom has picked up several new clients, including the the Ministry of Environment, which retained the firm to publicize its air quality management policies. Other new additions include CJ Social Contribution, which provides support and care for neglected children and teenagers; cosmetics company Hanskin; leading smart card brand T-money; and kitchen brand Haatz.

BEIJING—Burson-Marsteller is working with Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, a leading international business school, as its global agency of record. Burson-Marsteller works with the CKGSB teams in China, the United Kingdom and the United States to generate and build awareness of the school globally, especially among international business and academic opinion leaders and prospective students.

SINGAPORE—Kantar Media, a leader in media analytics and insights, has acquired FishEye Analytics, a Singapore-based start-up providing global social media listening research. The integration will extend Kantar Media’s global multi-lingual social measurement and analysis capabilities. FishEye Analytics offers social intelligence tools in Asia and has developed a technology that collects and analyses online discussions in 67 languages.